In a field featuring several ranked teams and athletes from Iowa and surrounding states, the Pella cross country teams competed in the Heartland Classic at Central College Saturday.

Pella’s top ranked in 3A girls finished 3rd behind Millard West of Nebraska and #4 in 4A Dallas Center-Grimes, putting together a strong team time average of 19:59 on their way to another trophy finish at the elite showcase. The Dutch flexed their muscle, placing six individuals in the top 30 in the field of 135 athletes from 21 schools. Ruth Dunham (13th – 19:40.8), Marissa Ferebee (14th – 19:42), and Autumn Blink (15th – 19:49) all broke the 20 minute mark at the tough Central course. Lizzie Neumann (27th – 20:21.3), Macy Schroeder (28th – 20:23), and Raegan Snieder (30th – 20:28.4) rounded out the top 30 finishers.

The #2 in 3A Dutch boys had an extremely tough field to navigate to 11th, in a race won by the #1 in 3A Gilbert Tigers and the chief rivals of the green and white heading into the second half of the season. Canaan Dunham turned in a 5th place finish among individuals (15:37.1), and Nathan Vander Waal was 10th (15:58). Noah Schucknecht (64th – 16:59.8), Stephen Gaul (84th – 17:15.2), and Devon Browne (100th – 17:23.7) rounded out the scoring for Pella.

Find full results here. The Pella cross country teams are off for over a week until they head to Williamsburg on Tuesday, September 26th.